Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Dalby Square Project

A £300,000 community project in Cliftonville has been officially unveiled today.

The Dalby Square Project was first started by a group of residents in 2002, who wanted to regenerate the main part of their neighbourhood. After securing funding from the New Opportunities Fund, Living Spaces, Thanet Council, Sure Start and the Council’s Cliftonville West Renewal Area programme, the project developed plans for the main square, with help from Thanet Council, the Thanet Community Development Trust and Thanet Local Strategic Partnership.

Since January, the Council’s Regeneration team has been transforming the central area of the square from a mainly concrete area, interspersed with trees and large shrubs, to a tree lined avenue, with gravel pathways, seating areas, a range of colourful flowerbeds and a children’s play area aimed at under sevens.

Cllr. John Kirby, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Development Services, said: “This project has been a superb effort driven by local residents and one that the Council has been delighted to be involved with. This type of community project is a priority for the Council’s Cliftonville West Renewal Area team. They’re there to listen to what local people want and to try to help turn those ambitions into reality through help and advice and, where they can, by financial support. The difference in Dalby Square as a result of this scheme is striking and it’s an excellent example of a range of different organisations working in partnership together. This whole area is now somewhere that the entire community can use and enjoy and not only that, it’s made the square a far more attractive place to live.”

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Nice to hear about it, I live just around the corner, 5 houses away from Dalby Sq and have heard nothing about any unveiling or opening.I do hope they have good CCTV installed which is working and has someone monitoring or recording otherwise it will be ruined in no time and no one will know who did it.Some of the locals (who weren't local a few years ago) need some education about rubbish disposal ( like don't just throw it out of the windows or dump it in the gardens)

And the London company which owns the derelict hotels around the Square needs to be forced into converting repairing or selling them. They blight the area. I believe the company is called Regentford Ltd and has a local director who seems to be known colloquially as Vash.This companuy was also the owner of the horrible bad tenanted no 18 Harold Rd which blighted that area until TDC ( many thanks Sandy Ezekiel) cleaned it up.It just goes to show how one Company can affect the whole of an area for the worse.Bad landlords have bad properties and bad tenants.

Hear hear!also on the subject of derelict or rundown properties what about the old fort hotel and the arcadian they are disgraceful and prime sites overlooking margate harbour.i am sure they were named and shamed a long time ago-but nothing has been done hmm..does anybody know anything?

With regards to the TDC press release and following comments on the development at Dalby Square in Cliftonville I felt I needed to clarify the situation. Being the community worker that initially brought the residents of Dalby Square together and supported them through their journey to success, I have been proud to watch its development. The TDC press release is weighted in such a way that it would have you believe that the council's renewal team have made this development happen. Far from it. Although the renewal team did offer the project support in its later stages, the project has only happened because of the tenacity and hard work of a small group of Dalby Square residents. They have worked tirelessly for 4 years and it is they who raised the funding (in the region of £350,000) through grant applications.True to say that TDC have worked in partnership with them, as have many other statutory, community and voluntary organisations along the way but lets give credit where it's due - the project would never have turned a dream into a reality were it not for the members of 'Dalby Square Project' residents group. The group themselves are planning their own 'grand opening' later in the year and will make it clear at that event that the development is truly owned by the residents. It's so important that these truths are told because Thanet is full of people who don't believe that positive change is possible or that the people who live here have any power over their lives. The Dalby Square project has proved that notion to be completely untrue.